"Remember?" this sounds more like we have so little observation of cells that when they respond to stimuli they have receptors for, we just never know that receptor existed.
Anthropomorphizing cells as anything beyond little machines seems silly.
I think the memory of slime molds (which are referenced in the article) can go further than merely relying on paths of slime they leave behind.
Recently, I acquired a sample of Physarium polycephalum and have been keeping it as a sort of "pet", if one can call it that. For those who don't know, slime molds like Physarium are actually considered a single-celled organism, at least when it's in its plasmodial phase. People typically feed them oat flakes because that's what they seem to love most, though I started trying some other foods to see what my little slime mold would be willing to eat. Carby things like pieces of bread, etc. The funny thing is that it seemed to really like those other foods, even multiple feedings in a row, but would then spontaneously refuse to respond to those same foods again. I've heard some anecdotes suggesting I'm not the only one to witness this. It really does seem like the slime mold is "remembering" at a level that may go beyond slime trails.
John Tyler Bonner writes on this theme this in The Evolution of Culture in Animals. While we usually associate learning and culture with higher animals, where do we draw the boundary? Can a single cell learn and have memory? Can it develop a culture? Can it have a memory?
A great book which expanded how I think about our own learning and cultural heritage
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[ 3.5 ms ] story [ 35.6 ms ] threadAnthropomorphizing cells as anything beyond little machines seems silly.
Recently, I acquired a sample of Physarium polycephalum and have been keeping it as a sort of "pet", if one can call it that. For those who don't know, slime molds like Physarium are actually considered a single-celled organism, at least when it's in its plasmodial phase. People typically feed them oat flakes because that's what they seem to love most, though I started trying some other foods to see what my little slime mold would be willing to eat. Carby things like pieces of bread, etc. The funny thing is that it seemed to really like those other foods, even multiple feedings in a row, but would then spontaneously refuse to respond to those same foods again. I've heard some anecdotes suggesting I'm not the only one to witness this. It really does seem like the slime mold is "remembering" at a level that may go beyond slime trails.
A great book which expanded how I think about our own learning and cultural heritage